Transfers!

Hey! This week was great! I´m not really sure where to start...  So I´ll start with the some fun news, I´m getting transfered! I didn´t see it coming but I´m super excited for the new challenges and experiences ahead. I´m being transfered to the Benfica branch which has only been a branch for about 8 months now, it´s really new but very well organized so I´m really excited. I get to serve with an Elder named Elder Mariquelle, he is from Mozambique and he is a stud. I am going to learn a lot from him. We will be serving as assistants to the president. I am still kind of in shock with the new assignment... but we´ll see how it goes! Hopefully I don´t screw up too much.. Elder Mariquelle has been assistant for a few transfers now so I´m looking forward to learning from him. 

I have learned so much in my 3 transferes here in this branch (Luanda 2). These people have taught me SO much! I think this has been the time that I have grown the most on my mission. As I look back on the experiences that Lord has blessed me with these past 4 months or so I am so grateful... I have truly gained a testimony of the eternal principle of obedience during these transfers. It has been incredible to see the Lord trust us as he has seen that we´re willing to do His work His way. I remember hearing talks and what not about it in the MTC, but I don´t think I really understood it until now. There´s no better way to gain a testimony of something than through experience! The branch that I am getting transfered to shares the same chapel as my current branch so I am really excited to be able to see everyone still. 

My testimony has grown so much as I´ve been on my mission. What would I do without this chance to serve? I love the Lord and am willing to do what ever he asks. Sorry that this email is so short... But I hope you know that I am happy and doing well! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Love,

Elder Hyde

WOW!

Wow. This week was incredible. It´s crazy how much the Lord is at work here in Angola. There were a lot of highs this week and a few necessary lows, but none the less, it was an incredible week. Let me try to tell you about it...

So I´ll start of with the highs. This last Saturday was awesome! We were able to see 4 of our investigators enter the waters of baptism and receive the joy that comes from it. There is nothing better than a baptismal service as a missionary. The great Swing was baptized along with Eliza, Natália and Costa. I haven´t talked much about Eliza but she is the cousin of Flora and a few other members, she is an awesome girl. Natália and Costa are the family of Fulai, Salvador, Mimi, Manucha, etc. We have been working with them for about 2 months now so it was so great to see them make it to baptism. They were both so excited! But, I don´t think I´ve ever seen any one as excited as Swing, this man came prepared. He has strengthened my testimony so much over the past 2 weeks. Yesterday when he received the Holy Ghost he was beaming, and after the blessing was done he jumped out of his chair and gave us big hugs, it was a great experience. I am confident that this guy is going to be a great leader of the church here in Angola. It has been insane to see how fast he learns, he just sucks it all up. He´s already read a solid 200 pages of the Book of Mormon and understands it better than I do. He has been prepared for a long time to receive the restored Gospel, and now that he has it he isn´t going anywhere but up. What an awesome experience it has been to be involved in his conversion. 

Now, I´m sure you´re all wondering about Necat, our Muslim friend. Let me tell you about the crazy week that we had with him. So I told him that I would be getting back to him on Tuesday after I talked to President about his situation and on Monday night he sent me a text saying, "I´m hope to hear good news from you tomorrow. I hope JESUS will accept me." That cut me to the core! This man wants so bad to know Christ and be accepted by him! Little does he know that Christ waiting for him with open arms. So on Tuesday I called him scheduling the interview that he needed to have with President for Saturday afternoon and he was excited and said that he´d be there. But then on Wednesday I got a call that rocked my world. Necat called me telling me that his work had found out about his meeting with us and that they now could not trust him and that he was being sent back to Turkey the next day.... WHAT!? I felt so bad... I appologized and appologized but he reassured me that it was him that called us and that we were just doing our jobs. He said that it is all for the better and that now he gets to return to his family and continue his search. So with that news we quickly scheduled a meeting with him the next day before he flew out. Us and President sat with him to show him our support but really the support of our Heavenly Father in his search. President explained that he will need to go to a country where the church is accepted and from there we can teach him and help his family become eternal. He realizes that it is going to be hard to get out of Turkey, especially as a Muslim, but he isn´t going to give up. This man is incredible! I wrote him a quick letter of encouragement and gave it to him as he left. I pray that everything will work out for him! It makes me wonder how many Necats there are out there... How many people are thirsty for the Gospel but don´t know where or how to find it? Thank goodness that God´s plan is perfect and merciful! I am so grateful that I was born into the circumstances I was born into and that I have had the Gospel my whole life! We can´t take it for granted! I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for Necat and that everything will fall into place for him. What an experience! 

The mission is so full of life changing experiences such as these. I don´t know what I would do without out these 2 years.. The Lord has been teaching me SO much. Thank you for your love, support, and prayers! I love you all so much! Have an incredible week!

Love,

Elder Hyde

Pics:

1. SWING!!

2. Eliza

3. Natália and Costa

Great Week!

Well it was another great week! The Lord has been blessing us with some really great experiences these last few weeks and I am so grateful. He´s been teaching me so much through the people we work with, it´s been incredible.

So my week  had quite a few highlights. I´ll start with one of the most prepared people I have met and taught my whole mission. I talked about him a little last week. His name is Swing. We have sat with him everyday since last Sunday and he is getting baptizedon Saturday! He has been literally eating right up everything that we have taught. He is SO ready for the Gospel. It has been an incredible experience to see it. He will be a big leader in the church one day. His day basically consists of work, reading in the Book of Mormon, and meeting with us. And the good thing is is that he loves it! His son lives here in Luanda, his wife and 2 other kids live in S. Africa still but they´re working on saving money so they can be together again. His son Junior is living with his sister in another part of the city so that he can be close to his school but this weekend he went and got him and brought him to church and he loved it! He´s 10. It´ll be so cool to see Swing baptized his son here in a few weeks or so. It so cool to see these people find the truth and then want to share it with everyone, Swing has committed himself to bring all of his family into the church. He´s the man. Last Monday we had a really special lesson with him. We taught the Plan of Salvation to him right after I heard about Grandma Claire. I think that was the first time I really taught the Plan of Salvation, the spirit was so strong! I am so grateful for the knowledge we have! 

We also had a really special experience this week with a man that stopped us on the street last Tuesday. So as we were walking down one of the side streets in our area a white european looking fella called us over and said that he wanted to talk to us, but that he couldn´t right then and that he would call us. He spoke English but had a strange accent and you could tell english wan´t his first language. Anyways long story short, on Saturday we met with him and he just let it all out on the table. He is Turkish, Muslim, and wants a new life. I was kind of in shock as we was talking... He said that as we walked by something told him that we could help him. He has been looking for a way out of the muslim life and culture for 10 years and hasn´t found how yet. He has family in Turkey and wants to be happy with them. I told him that we would do everything we could but that we couldn´t promise anything. President Merrill is going to need to chat with him before we move forward. It was so cool though! The light of Christ is truly in all of us! Even those who don´t know anything about Christ. I hope and pray that we can help this man! I directed him to Mormon.org so hopefully he can start doing a little on his own. I´ll keep you updated on him!

Everything is going great and most importantly I am happy! I am so grateful for this time I have to serve the Lord. I have been learning so much from the Angolan people! I don´t know what I would do without my mission! I love you all and am so grateful for all of you! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hyde

Keep on Keepin On

Well, my week was incredible. But I will not lie, I am at a loss for words right now as I have learned about the passing of one of the worlds best, Grandma Claire. It all now comes down to me and to us to continue in faith doing what she and our Heavenly Father would have us do. I am so grateful for the testimony that I have of The Plan of Salvation, I KNOW with a certainty that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and that the goal of that plan is to help us be happy. What a life she lived. She was the perfect example of what it means to keep covenants and receive the promised blessing, happiness. She was happy. Always. I am at such peace knowing that she now feels no pain, and that she is with those that were waiting for her on the other side. That we can all stay strong, and remember the incredible life that she lived!

Last Monday I was nervous. After leaving email I was nervous about the news I received of grandma´s condition. I asked for a blessing from my companion that I would be able to focus on the work, and as I slept that night I went to bed feeling that all was well. When I woke up it was just like another day, and this week was one of the better weeks of my mission as I saw the Lord change the lives of many. On Saturday 3 of our investigators were baptized, it was an incredible service. Cristiano was giddy as he waited for his turn. He has strengthened my testimony so much as I have seen the Atonement change his life. Manucha and Mendes were also baptized and all of their siblings were there to watch, it was great. These kids are amazing. There are now 6 of them baptized in their family, and there are many that are following their footsteps.

This week we have been working hard on contacting to grow our teaching pool and it has been so cool to see the Lord at work. On Friday I was on a division in another area and while I was on that division the Elders in my area found an elect. His name is Swing. He is much like Cristiano in the sense that he is thirsty for the Gospel. Here is a brief background of Swing. He has lived in S. Africa for the last 14 years and came to Angola about a year ago to work. His wife is still in S. Africa and is actually a member of the church. They were married in an LDS Chapel in 2005. She is not active and he really doesn´t know much about the church. But as he has come here has been looking for "the true church", a church that would make him happy and build his faith. But he´s been coming up short. He´s been praying to God asking that he would show to him what he needs to do. He has been jobless for about 6 months now and has been looking hard for work. On Friday he went and handed in some resumés and for some odd reason, he said, he decided to come home at a time that he usually didn´t. That was when he ran into the Elders. They sat with him and he was so joyful knowing that God had answered his prayers. Saturday he got a job and he attributes that to his new encounter with the truth. Yesterday he bore his testimony in sacrament meeting expressing how he knows that this is where he needs to be. We sat with him yesterday and taught him the restoration and he ate it right up. We left him with the commitment to read the Book of Mormon, he said that he would so that he can confirm the testimony that he already has of the church.  I don´t think I have ever met someone so excited in my life. We set a baptismal date with him and he should be baptized in a few short weeks. He is so excited to call and tell his wife. Little does he know, but his family will soon become eternal!

I am so grateful for this mission and the opportunity that I have to share this knowledge that we have with the Angolan people. I have been so blessed to know of this my whole life. I truly don´t know what I would do with this mission and the experiences I am having here and the lessons I am learning here. This church is so true and the Gospel truly is our only way to happiness. Of the few things I know, that is one of them. Stay strong and keep on keepin on! I love you!

Elder Hyde